Additive manufacturing (e.g., 3D printing) can provide certain advantages over traditional manufacturing processes. For manufacturing drill bits used in the oil and gas industry, for example, one of the most significant advantages of additive manufacturing is the design flexibility and the ability to create forms and features not feasible any other way. Similar advantages of additive manufacturing are applicable to other industries. Additive manufacturing systems, such as direct metal laser sintering or electron-beam melting, are currently available for fabricating or “printing” metal components. Printing ceramic materials via additive manufacturing, however, poses significant challenges.
In general, ceramic materials are bonded together using water or a binding agent, such as a polymer or a metal. The bonded structure is then fired using conventional ceramic processing steps to convert the bonded structure to a ceramic. In additive manufacturing, it is difficult to bond or melt ceramic particles to build up an additive manufactured structure due to the high melting temperature of the ceramic particles. Moreover, ceramics particles are brittle and therefore sensitive to thermal stresses common to additive manufacturing as each successive layer is melted or sintered and cooled to build up the desired structure or part.